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16 May 2010

Supernatural 5.22 Swan Song Review

It's Kripke Disneyland. He did it! He so did it! It was the perfect way to go out as the showrunner. Eric Kripke, you one bad ass-butt son of a pie! I love you! I heart Swan Song, 5 out of 5!

The episode was written by Eric Kripke aka Eric 'Giz' Gewirtz, directed by Steve Boyum. My initiate reaction was that, this episode was absolutely mind-blowing. The show has reached its maturity. It has come a long way since the Pilot. I'd be very happy if Swan Song was the series finale.

I didn't not move or breathe for the duration of the first run on my computer. I was in a Supernatural shock for about 15 minutes after the episode. I was in speechless. And then I knew I had to watch it again. I was in shock because it was a really really awesome episode, Kripke took a slightly different writing approach to it and I can't believe season five had come to an end. When Carry on Wayward Son was played, I knew even a temporary goodbye at the end of the episode would be a heart wrenching one.5.22 Swan Song had a number of unique properties which I personally love and I think they made the episode! The most noticeable one is Chuck as the narrator for the Winchester Gospel, so to speak. This is the first (and probably the only time), we'd ever see such approach. The narrative was perfectly put together with the perfect soundtrack and montage. It was almost as if Kripke was telling the story. I had no idea where the episode was going with this. I was wondering why Chuck was telling us the back story of the Impala. I seriously thought the Impala was like the Ark of the Covenant or something. We joked for a few weeks that perhaps the Impala will run over Luci and kill him. This idea was just too cute, right?!

Fans always see the Impala as the 3rd Winchester. It is as iconic as the Millennium Falcon or R2-D2 or Kitt. I thought it was a nice nice nice back story. We met the original owner of the Impala Sal Moriarty, who drove the Impala and delivered Bibles on the weekends to the poor. We then saw young John's encounter with the Impala, followed by a series of untold stories of the brothers: Sam's plastic soldier in the ash tray, Dean's Lego in the car's vents and the young brothers carved their initials somewhere in the Impala. These were the little things in life that made their days.In Supernatural, the Impala is the most important object in the entire universe. I love the connection between the car and the family. Although it was a muscle car, but the show didn't just use another classic rock song for the montage. Instead, a very good instrumental soundtrack was used. It was masterful. It was classy. The montage wasn't cheap and lazy. The Impala story was treated with respect, just like the story of the Winchesters. The Impala stuff was well written, well visualised and well executed. I love the details. It was such an excellent montage of the moments that mattered to the brothers and fans. The montage summed up the brothers relationship perfectly!

I think the whole point of the story about God in Supernatural is this: God wanted to see a feel-good-enough ending.The angels on this show were soldiers, they were fierce without compassion. Perhaps God wanted the humans to succeed where the angels failed. God wanted to see his new creation to make the right decisions with their own hearts and minds. Sam and Dean made some big mistakes, they had to overcome big obstacles, but what brought them together was their human quality - love and family. What other see as a weakness, it's strength to the Winchesters. As Chuck said in the end, it was a test and the brothers did alright.

A good hug can save the world. So go hug somebody!

The heart of the show hasn't changed. It's about the brothers and it always will be. To borrow Lost's ideology, Sam is Dean's constant and Dean is Sam's constant. Since the Pilot, this has not changed. There were some really really good brotherly moments in this episode. Seeing Dean sort of let go of Sam in the beginning of the episode was good. He has to let Sam grow up and he has to grow up too. But in the end, Dean still wouldn't let Sam to die alone. I think Dean would rather die with Sam than to live alone. I think this pretty much summed up the whole story too. I thought Sam was really brave in this episode, he was determined to carry his task and he did it! He took control of Luci and did the swan dive!Supernatural is so brutal when it comes to killing characters! They don't think twice about it! So Swan Song was a bit anti-Supernatural, they didn't kill off Bobby and Castiel. Perhaps Eric Kripke was feeling merciful.

Do you think that was really Sam standing under the light pole? I'd say YES. Do you think Chuck was God? My answer is YES. Kripke is humoring us. What happened to Michael and Luci? Who cares?! They are in the hole, so stay there! Will Dean just live his apple pie life with Lisa and Ben? I think he will, at least for awhile, until something or someone pulls him out of retirement.

Other thoughts on Swan Song: I would have loved to see a bit more Mark Pellegrino. But that's ok.. I have seen him enough in Lost. In relation to Michael, I would have liked to see the Michael story to be a bit more epic, but I guess once Dean had said no, there was really no point of having more Michael stuff. I love all the Star Wars reference, Dean called Bobby 'Yoda' and Dean said "I have a bad feeling about this." was awesome!! I thought it was great to see Castiel to have his mojo back, which could be a foreshadowing of things to come perhaps?? I am happily wrong about Castiel being human in season six and season six being Terminator Salvation. I'd be nice, from a very personally perspective, but I am totally cool with the show NOT going Terminator Salvation. So what's going to happen in season six? I have no idea, but here are some food for thought:

Sam is going to pop out from the Impala Trunk and screams 'surprise'! I don't think Supernatural will pull a Flock! I think Sam will be back as Sam!

Bobby will be back.

Castiel will be back as a guest star rather than a season regular, which I will be fine with it.

Crowley will be back as the King of the Crossroads. Will he be the bad big for the boys to kill?

Chuck may be back as Chuck, but nobody will ever know he is God. Having said that, I am fine if Chuck won't come back at all. I will miss him!

I still think season six is about damage control.

When I watch a TV show, I look for the wow factor. If I am investing my time on a show, it has to be awesome! I don't want to see stuff I've seen before. I don't want to see anything cheap and lazy. I want something unique. I want a good story that is well planned from the get-go. I want good characters. I was to see growth. I want to see good effort. I want it to take me away every time I watch an episode. Supernatural ticks all the boxes. This is the show I care about. I trust the writers and I trust Sera Gamble. I cannot wait for season six to air!

Eric Kripke, I love you! Thank you so much for creating the best show! Please come back and write at least one episode in season six.

5.22 Swan Song pulled 2.8mil in the first hour and 2.78mil in the second hour on Thursday night. Source: TVByTheNumber

I love Supernatural fandom. We have trended not one but TWO Supernatural topics on Twitter on Thursday. Kripke and TheEndisNow were trending topics on Twitter. At one stage, both topics were trending at the same time. Here are the screen shots, taken on Friday Sydney time.

Last but not least, congratulations to Jensen and Danneel on their marriage. The couple got married in Texas over the weekend. I hope the wedding cake was yummy! I love a good wedding cake!

8 comments:

Fantastic review Tiny, I love it. You forgot one Star Wars reference though, when Lucifer says to Sammy in the mirror "Young Skywalker"! I loved that line! I thought Jared was truly awesome in this episode. I was with you with the Impala, for a moment I thought we were right and it was going to run old Luci over! Too twee though huh? I loved this episode too, for all the reasons you have said, because of the beautiful narrative and the heart of it being about the Winchester's love and dedication for each other. I give it a 5 out of 5, it really did wow the hell out of me, like this show continues to do, as you know, I am well and truly dedicated. I've watched this episode 3 times now, I have blogged about it, talked about it and it's still swimming around in my mind...you know why? Because it's damn good TV and that is damn rare.P.S. I vote for a Chuck rewatch when we get season 5 Y/Y?-Amy

I'm praying to Chuck that season six is just a rumour and for it to stay that way.

Like the wise have said, it is better to end with a bang rather than a whimper.

On a side note, my thoughts:Absolutely awesome. But something was missing= Crowley. I think he should've help get the demon-blood, wish them all good luck then disappear, his absence was negatively obvious. But now I feel like the other Se5 episodes were bad. Really it was so empty and almost had no plot at most times until Hammer Of The Gods. Like all the content was pushed to the end. Well what happens now?

Either Sam goes to see Bobby and they continue hunting, so that Dean can live a normal life like he deserves.

Or Sam meets up with Dean, and Dean's faith is restored. They decide to settle down or continue doing what they do best.

If they don't settle down, that's season six ... and I don't want to watch it because it will lack content and ruin the Supernatural experience. This is the same reason I stopped watching Scrubs after Se8!

I don't think Supernatural will be like Scrubs. SPN has way better writers with brains. So I am not worried about season 6. However, I think season 6 should be the last depends on the 'new' story arc it has. But really, I am not worried. I have faith in Sera Gamble & co.

Regarding God, I think he can do whatever he wants. You don't even know when you are talking to him or looking at him.

I don't think other episodes are bad. Like I said in the blog, the heart of the story has not changes. The boys have to overcome obstacles to get to the end. Other characters are created to manipulate their perceptions. It's a journey.

I think Team Free Will can handle a couple demons and get the demon blood without the help of Crowley. And I don't think they need Crowley's good luck. I think we will see Crowley again, but not as a buddy to the boys.

You know Tiny, basically you just said all the things I thought about Swan Song. It was perfect, and I loved it to the core. It was indeed the best goodbye Kripke could have give us.

There are so many people out there who didn't like the finale, but I thought that every single detail was made for us, for the fans. I really liked Chuck's narration, like you said; it was like if Kripke himself were talking to us. And the script was beyond perfect.

I liked how things ended, and if we didn't have a season 6, and that was the very last episode of the show, I'd be very happy too.

hahahahaha!!!! Good to know I'm not the only one who saw the Impala like our very own version of the Millennium Falcon.

But what I enjoyed the most was how this episode took my breath away, how it made me shed more than a few tears, and how after five years, episodes like this one makes me forget those two idjits are not real. But most of all, I loved how everything came back to thing that really matters, family.

This show is about two brothers, who love each other and have done pretty awful things, but no matter what, will always be ready to sacrifice themselves for the other, which is not always about dying, sometimes is just about letting go and keep living with your heart broken.

No its that the series has been growing exponentially but like it has reached its peak.I mean how can you topple Life and Death?(ie God and Deathorseman).You just can't there is nothing supernatural bigger than these.

How this related to Scrubs: at the end of season 8 it had a big finale as it lost its main actor and narrator JD. Season 9 just wasn't Scrubs, more like Scrub-this-episode-out-of-my-suicidal-head.

What I was saying about Crowley, he was definantly missing from that episode.He should've meet them, then agree to the plan, help capture the demons, say goodbye and leave.Something like 5minutes to say, he's here but no longer involved.

Its not that they needed his help, its cause the audience needed the stability.

And I predicted the last episode right, how Lucifer knows about the rings and things take a really bad turn but something big happens and they're victorious.

Notice this is the first season finale that they finished on a good note.

Yes, Sam is free as you see in the last 12sec of the episode he watches Dean eat dinner.